ben23 Posted October 7, 2007 Posted October 7, 2007 Hey guys, Saturday I fished in my second ever adult club tournament for Fish On Bass Anglers up on the Susquehanna river- Lapidum Boat ramp. This club has around 54 members. We launched at about 6:45 and weight-in was at 3pm. It was a tough day, and my boater told me that no one could get anything going in pre-fish. I didn't get to pre-fish because I had football. Anyway, the day started slow and there was no topwater bite whatsoever. I started with a clear jr. spook with no success. The grassline we were fishing was absolutely loaded with baitfish, soo much so that the fish must not have been very hungry due to the huge balls of bait swimming freely. Well, instead of sticking with the topwater lures I decided to try something different. Due to the wind and thick cloud cover, I decided to throw a shallow running crankbait along the edges of the grass. I used a shad colored Catching Concepts KC1 crankbait using 8lb HI-SEAS White Lightning, 6'7 E21 Edge Series Spinning Rod, and a Daiwa Capricorn 1500. Within about 20 minutes of switching over I had bagged a few small fish- all non-keepers. My boater stuck with his topwater lures and also got a few small non-keepers. I started to throw the KC1 closer to the grass and ripping it out to see if I could get a reaction strike because the fish obviously were not hungry. I quickly, at about 7:30, landed a 3-1 Largemouth using this technique- I was pumped. I continued with this pattern, changing between the MC2 series and KC1 series cranks; a mid-diver and a shallow diver. At about 9:00 I hooked up with a big fish on the MC2, it gave a couple good head shakes and got my blood pumping- it was a catfish pushing 8 or 9 pounds......bummer. We headed to a few more spots with different types of cover for several hours, only landing dinks under 12" using Picasso Shakedown 3/32 ounce shakey heads and cranks. However, wherever we moved, we couldn't find a concentration of baitfish like our first area. At about 12:45 we headed back to fish the grassline. My boater caught a big cat on a crankbait and a few small fish on a splitshot rig- no keepers. I stuck with what worked before- the KC1. At about 1:15 I leaned into another nice fish- it dove and head shook just like the catfish. I worked her around the back of the boat, hoping it was a bass. Sure enough, the fish surfaced and I saw the bucketmouth. After a tiring fight with the light 8lb test White Lightning, we put her in the net. I was REALLY pumped. We kept fishing the area and landed a few more small fish, and I had one monster largemouth follow my crankbait all the way to the boat and hit it as I pulled it out of the water, missing the hooks. We headed to the launch ramp, and I was pretty satisfied with my day. I knew it was a tough bite and that I would be in contention for big fish. I weighed in my two fish weighing 8-7. My big fish went 5-6 and took the Overall Lunker pot. I ended up as 1st place non-boater. 2nd place NB caught 1 fish for 3-4. It was also nice to learn that I also beat the Boater Division. The winner of the boater division caught 2 fish for 5-4. All in all it was a great day (and a great pay-day) and it was finally nice to get out of this losing streak. Hope you enjoyed the report, Ben GOD BLESS Quote
ZombyGuru Posted October 7, 2007 Posted October 7, 2007 Nice work, way to stay on your toes and use yer noggin!! Quote
Super User T-rig Posted October 8, 2007 Super User Posted October 8, 2007 Absolutely awesome! Congrats! 8-) Quote
Infidel. Posted October 8, 2007 Posted October 8, 2007 That's great to win on a day when it's a tough bite. Anyone can go out there and have a chance at winning when the fish are chewing, but to win on a day like that, now that says something! Quote
Cigarlover 1 Posted October 8, 2007 Posted October 8, 2007 That's great to win on a day when it's a tough bite. Anyone can go out there and have a chance at winning when the fish are chewing, but to win on a day like that, now that says something! Couldn't put it any better. Nice win. Quote
ben23 Posted October 9, 2007 Author Posted October 9, 2007 Thanks for all of the support guys! ben Quote
Super User fishfordollars Posted October 11, 2007 Super User Posted October 11, 2007 Congratulations. What impressed me more was that you were willing to make a change. You will always learn more on the tough days. Good job! Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted October 11, 2007 Super User Posted October 11, 2007 ;D ;D ;D CONGRATULATIONS ;D ;D ;D Excellent report, outstanding fish and great pics! 8-) Quote
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